Indomitable spirit
Man with multiple health complications runs his family selling eggs, nuts
Despite having multiple physical complications including visual impairment, 40-year-old Abdus Salam runs his family like any ordinary person without stooping low. Despite the cruxes, Salam is traversing the path of life with his head high.
He has embraced his life with the ordeals without remorse.
Salam, a resident of Surail village in Joypurhat's Kalai upazila, has garnered the empathy of the people in his area.
He has been feeding his four-member family by selling boiled eggs and peanuts walking all around the upazila from morning to late night.
He is also educating his elder daughter through his meagre income.
Salam recently shared his plights with this correspondent.
He is the younger of two siblings. He was born like any other average child. But his fate followed with less rewarding things. When he was just seven years old, he was diagnosed with typhoid.
Doctors then advised his father for the better treatment of his son but the treatment got delayed due to poverty and Salam gradually lost his vision. His father took him to the doctor when he was 12 but it was too late. Salam's vision could not be restored.
"It was the first blow in my life", said Salam.
For various diseases, he also became physically challenged. He has difficulties balancing his hands and legs while walking.
His mother took responsibility to feed her son after his father's death in 2005. But his mother also fell sick leading to lifelong confinement to bed. All the responsibilities of feeding the family fell on his shoulder.
Salam felt that he had to do something to fetch money.
He started selling boiled eggs and peanuts.
His mother died eight years ago.
"I can easily earn Tk 350 to Tk 400 a day", said Salam.
Every morning, his wife gets everything ready. Salam goes out of the home taking all the boiled eggs and peanuts in a basket. After selling all those, he returns home late at night.
His elder daughter is a sixth-grader at Kalai Girls' High School. His younger daughter is just three years old.
Salam said that he often faces minor accidents due to his physical condition.